Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

. . .

Long ago, long before time had a name, there existed a small village in the Realm of Oni and Dragons, where mortals and immortals lived in uneasy harmony.

Though they coexisted and collaborated, there was one law that was never to be broken: no bonds were to run deeper than mere acquaintance.

But law and longing are not always aligned. For a mortal woman, drawn by a force she could not name, fell in love with an oni-dragon hybrid.

The forbidden lovers packed what little they possessed and fled the village, seeking a life untouched by rules and whispers.

Weeks turned to months, and months turned to years, and they soon grew into a family of three, living quietly in the lonely mountains, exiles from the world they once knew.

Time moved swiftly, and soon it was their beloved daughter’s eighteenth birthday.

The celebration was brief.

By the next day, the couple knelt in the shadowed earth, burying their beloved child, her lips still stained crimson, gone from their lives forever.

. . .

“With my dad gone, sometimes I question where I’m going. Sometimes I worry about who I might become.”

“I know how that feels. After I lost my dad, I lost my way. I was lucky to have my sister watch over me. Don’t worry, big shot. I’ll watch over you from now on.”

(Season 5, Episode 1, Winds of Change)

. . .

“So, ya got any idea what you want for your birthday?”

Kai leaned over the counter and ruffled Lloyd’s already messy hair, the morning sunlight catching just right and turning the blond strands into soft gold. He always did that—found any excuse to mess with Lloyd’s hair like it was legally required older brother behavior.

“Kai!” Lloyd swatted his hand away, glaring half-heartedly. “I already told you I don’t need anything. It’s not a big deal.”

Kai let out an absolutely offended scoff, planting his hands on his hips like he was about to lecture an entire classroom.

“Are you fucking kidding?! Eighteen is literally the most important birthday in the entire history of birthdays.”

“Language!” Nya scolded as she strolled into the kitchen, her ponytail swinging with each step. She slipped onto the stool beside Lloyd with the grace of someone who’s been doing it her whole life. “He’s right, though. There has to be something you want.”

Lloyd dragged a hand down his face, letting out a dramatic groan.

“C’mon, Nya, not you too—”

“I agree,” Zane said calmly from behind the stove, back still turned as he monitored the perfectly symmetrical pancakes that were, of course, browning at the exact same rate. “We should celebrate you coming of age, Lloyd.”

He lifted one pancake with surgeon-level precision and placed it neatly on a plate.

Lloyd took a sip of his coffee, mostly to avoid answering, but the bitterness wasn’t enough to settle the churning in his stomach.

“I shouldn’t even be of age anyway,” he muttered into his mug.

The shift in the room was instant.

Even without looking, he could feel it.

The playful energy evaporated like someone had opened a window and let all the warmth out. Zane paused mid-movement. Nya glanced over with barely concealed worry. Kai’s shoulders dropped. They all exchanged that look, the one Lloyd hated. The silent, shared “he’s been through too much” look.

Great. Fantastic. Exactly what he didn’t want.

Before anyone could jump in with comfort or sympathy or whatever emotional intervention they were plotting, Lloyd straightened.

He had to change the topic. Fast.

Kai reached out and squeezed his shoulder in that careful, hesitant way, like Lloyd was something fragile. Something breakable.

“Lloyd—”

“Do you guys hear that?” Lloyd blurted, shrugging off Kai’s hand and hopping off the stool like it was on fire. “I think Master Wu’s calling me.”

He gestured vaguely down the hallway, praying none of them questioned it.

“Wait,” Zane said, turning fully around now, concern etched into the tiny details of his synthetic expression. “What about your breakfast? Pancakes are your favorite.”

He held up a plate with three perfectly pristine pancakes, stacked evenly, butter melting in a perfect square on top, chocolate syrup drizzled like art.

And yeah, normally Lloyd would’ve inhaled that plate in two seconds flat.

Zane’s cooking was delicious, and pancakes were created by angels themselves.

But right now?

Just the thought of eating made his stomach twist painfully.

Not that he could tell them that he hadn’t eaten a real meal in… actually, he didn’t even know how long it’s been. The two-in-the-morning fridge leftovers probably didn’t count.

“Nah, I’m good.” He forced a casual shrug. “Maybe later.”

He tried to make it sound like he wasn’t nauseous, sleep-deprived, or actively fighting the urge to cough up something he really, really didn’t want them to see.

Then he pivoted and headed down the hall before anyone could stop him.

But just before he turned the corner, he caught it.

Zane, Kai, and Nya huddled together, whispering, exchanging worried glances like he was already slipping through their fingers.

Lloyd treaded through the hall, glancing over his shoulder to make sure none of the others had followed after he bailed.

If someone did follow him, they’d start asking questions, and then Lloyd would have to say nothing was wrong, and that he was fine, and that it definitely hadn’t been months since he last slept through the night, and of course he could totally remember the last time he ate a full meal, and—

“Ow—dude, watch where you’re walking!”

Lloyd whipped his head forward again and came face-to-face with a tired, half-asleep Jay, whose frazzled hair and wrinkled pajamas suggested he’d rolled straight out of bed and right into this problem.

“Oh, uh—my bad,” Lloyd muttered, scratching the back of his head and silently praying Jay would just walk off without starting a conversation.

“All good. Where you going in such a hurry, lil bro?”

Of course. The universe hated him.

“Uh, I’m…”

think of something, think of something, think of something—

“…I need to take a shit.”

Really…? Really?! Out of every possible excuse, that was the one his brain greenlit? Whatever.. It was embarrassing enough that Jay wouldn’t question it. Hopefully.

“Hah! You go do that, buddy,” Jay laughed, overly loud for someone who was barely awake, patting Lloyd on the shoulder before wandering off. “I’m gonna go figure out what smells so good.”

And just like that, he skipped away toward the kitchen, leaving Lloyd blissfully alone again.

Great. Now he could collapse on his bed and just lay there forever. Preferably unconscious. Preferably until the end of the universe.

He trudged down the hallway, but a gnawing sense of wrongness drifted up his spine.

He looked down.

His hands were shaking.

He blinked a few times, confused, like maybe the tremor would disappear if he stared at it hard enough. But no. The shaking stayed. His whole arm felt weirdly light and heavy at the same time.

Then his chest fluttered again, sharp and hot, like something inside him was trying to claw its way out.

“Not again,” he muttered.

But the cough was already rising.

He clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to swallow it down, but that only made it worse. The pressure built and built, burning up his throat, crushing all the air out of his lungs.

Then—

He doubled over.

A dry, violent cough tore out of him.

Then another.

And another.

Each one harsher than the last, shaking him so hard he had to lean against the wall just to stay upright.

“Shit—” he choked, stumbling toward the bathroom.

His vision blurred at the edges. The hallway stretched out forever. Every breath scraped against his ribs like sandpaper. He shoved the bathroom door open and barely made it to the sink before the next cough ripped free…

…and this one brought something up with it.

Minutes passed. Or maybe hours. Time didn’t feel real. All he could register was pain and the awful taste of metal filling his mouth, thick and warm. Finally, what felt like years later, the coughing subsided.

The pain faded into a dull throb. His ears rang, a cold dread crept up his spine.

He opened his eyes.

The sink was full of blood.

But not normal blood.

The puddle twitched.

Like it was… alive.

His blood moved like it was fucking alive and oh my god why is it moving?!

Some of it was just a normal crimson red, bright and sharp against the white porcelain.

But woven through it were two other colors:

A deep red-purple that moved like smoke trapped underwater.

And a soft golden glow, faint but undeniably alive, pulsing like it had a heartbeat.

The colors didn’t swirl naturally. They twisted, stretched, then almost deliberately began pushing into the red.

Lloyd stared, his stomach flipping.

The purple and gold spread slowly at first… then quicker, and quicker—

Predators circling its prey.

The red was engulfed.

All that remained was the shimmering gold pooled on one side of the sink…

and the shadowy, pulsing purple on the other.

Separated. Opposite.

Like they hated each other just as much as they hated the red they’d just consumed.

A million questions crashed through Lloyd’s mind, panic rising like a tide.

But he didn’t have time to process any of it.

Because a sharp knock echoed from the other side of the door.

“Hey, Greenie—you okay in there?”

Shit, it was Cole.

He definitely heard the coughing.

Lloyd’s entire body went rigid.

For a second, he wondered if he imagined Cole’s voice, maybe the ringing in his ears was acting up again, or maybe his brain was just throwing random sounds at him because it hated him. But then came another knock, a little firmer this time.

“Lloyd? Dude? You good?”

Nope. Very real. Very unfortunate.

Lloyd’s pulse spiked.

His throat still tasted like metal.

There was blood on his hands.

His blood. Sort of.

He glanced at the sink again, big mistake.

The gold and purple masses had stopped moving, like they were waiting. Watching. They clung to their opposite sides of the porcelain like two animals preparing to lunge at each other the moment he looked away.

He didn’t understand it.

He didn’t want to understand it.

Not right now. Not with Cole literally outside the door.

Lloyd’s breath stuttered in his chest, uneven and shaky. He pressed a hand to his sternum, wincing at how tender it felt. It was like something bruised was blooming under his skin, spreading with every heartbeat.

Knock knock knock.

“Green Machine? You’re concerning me, dude.”

Lloyd swallowed hard, and regretted it immediately. His throat burned like he’d swallowed fire. The coppery taste didn’t help either.

He needed to answer. He needed to make his voice normal. He needed to stop panicking. He needed to breathe.

Which was… surprisingly difficult, actually.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. Red smeared across the fabric. He cursed under his breath and flipped the sleeve inward, so the stain was hidden. The last thing he needed was Cole’s eagle eyes locking onto a blood smear and going full ‘Worried Mother Mode.’

His hands were still trembling.

He turned the faucet on, keeping the water pressure low so it didn’t make a loud, suspicious splash. He reached into the sink, hesitated, and then plunged his fingers into the cold water.

The blood reacted instantly.

The purple curled away from him.

The gold flickered brighter, like a startled animal.

Lloyd’s breath hitched.

Nope. Absolutely not. Not dealing with that.

Not today.

He splashed water over everything anyway, ignoring the way it made the purple mass ripple like it was irritated. The colors bled apart under the water, thinning out, losing their shape, losing their fight.

Good.

Disappear.

Be normal.

Just this once, can something please be normal?

Finally, after far too long, the sink ran clear.

He shut the water off.

Leaned both hands on the counter.

Lowered his head.

Tried to breathe.

Another knock, gentler this time.

“Lloyd? Hey… talk to me, man.”

Fuck. He squeezed his eyes shut. Cole sounded worried, really worried. And Lloyd hated that. He wasn’t trying to freak anyone out. He wasn’t trying to make them babysit him. He wasn’t trying to be a problem.

He just—

He just couldn’t keep doing this.

The exhaustion, the nightmares, the burning in his chest.

The way every part of him felt wrong.

But he also couldn’t tell them.

He lifted his head and stared at his reflection in the mirror.

He looked awful.

Pale and sweaty, red streaks dripping at the corner of his mouth. Eyes too bright, like they were reflecting something inside him he didn’t understand. His hair was sticking to his forehead. He looked like he’d just lost a fight with a volcano.

He forced his expression into something neutral.

Pulled air into lungs that didn’t want to cooperate.

Wiped the last bit of red from the corner of his lip.

“Okay,” he whispered to himself, “just act normal. You’re fine. You’re totally fine. You’re… alive. …maybe.”

He unlocked the door.

His hand froze on the handle for a second.

He had to get into character.

Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon: totally chill, totally fine, totally not melting down internally.

One more breath.

He cracked the door open.

Cole’s face appeared immediately, eyes wide, eyebrows pulled together in concern. He looked like he’d been standing with his ear pressed to the door the whole time.

“Oh thank goodness,” Cole breathed out, visibly relieved. “Dude, you were in there forever. I thought you died or something.”

Lloyd forced himself to roll his eyes. “Why is that always your go-to scenario?”

Cole shrugged. “Have you met us?”

Fair.

Cole leaned forward a little, scanning Lloyd’s face like he was trying to read every tiny detail.

“You look… kinda rough,” Cole said quietly. “You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Just—stomach stuff.”

Cole winced sympathetically. “Oof. Say no more.”

Lloyd nodded, trying not to visibly wilt with relief. Cole bought it. He actually bought it.

For a second.

Then Cole’s eyes narrowed.

“You weren’t… y’know… crying in there, were you?”

Lloyd nearly choked on his own spit. “Wh—no?! Why would I be crying?!”

Cole raised both eyebrows. “Because you disappeared from breakfast, and Jay said you looked like a ‘guilty raccoon in a teen romcom’, whatever that means.”

Oh my god.

He needed to commit arson.

Preferably on Jay.

“I wasn’t crying,” Lloyd said, a little too fast.

“Okay…” Cole said slowly, clearly not convinced, “but if something’s bothering you—”

There it was. The conversation trap.

He had to escape before Cole got gentle and comforting. Cole being gentle was lethal. It destroyed defenses. Lloyd would crack in two seconds.

“I’m good!” Lloyd said quickly. “Totally. Perfectly. Absolutely great. Just tired. Bathroom. You know. Stuff.”

Cole stared at him for another few seconds.

Then he sighed. “Alright. But if you feel sick again, come get me, okay?”

Lloyd nodded.

Cole gave his shoulder a firm squeeze, warm and solid, grounding in a way that made Lloyd’s throat tighten, and then stepped aside to let him out.

Lloyd forced himself to walk normally down the hall.

He didn’t look back.

He didn’t dare.

Plus, this is probably just a dream. It probably means nothing.

…Probably.

. . .

The sky cracked with lightning.

But not the normal kind, not the soft blue that snapped from Jay’s hands when he was annoyed, or the bright white arcs that streaked the clouds during storms.

No, this lightning glowed an unnatural violet, splitting across the fractured sky like veins under bruised skin, writhing as though it were alive. Each crack shuddered, pulsing, echoing a heartbeat as if it was alive.

Arin winced as another shockwave rippled beneath his boots, the broken rooftop trembling violently. Loose gravel skittered and spun off the edge, disappearing into the half-collapsed courtyard far below. The wind howled through the shattered beams of the monastery replicant, carrying the smell of ozone and dust.

Just a few feet ahead, Lloyd stood locked in a brutal clash with a very, very pissed-off Ras… though Arin honestly couldn’t figure out what exactly had set the brute off this time. Ras seemed to wake up angry.

And as much as Arin loved and idolized his master-slash-icon-slash-friend-slash-ninja-partner, he had to admit that Lloyd was absolutely getting his ass kicked. Respectfully.

“Uh—Lloyd?!” Arin yelled, grabbing onto a splintered wooden pillar before another shockwave could fling him straight off the rooftop. “I’m just putting this out there, but we are absolutely losing right now!”

Lloyd gritted his teeth, summoning what little strength he still had, emerald energy crackling around his fists. “Working on it!” he barked back. His feet dug into the cracked concrete, the ground beneath him glowing from the strain of elemental power.

But every burst of green light flickered too fast, dying out before it reached full strength.

His energy had been doing that a lot lately.

Everything had.

The coughs, the weird voices he couldn’t shut out, the visions that came without warning.

The ever-present exhaustion settling into his bones like wet sand.

He was tired.

More than he wanted Arin to know.

One hard blow, combined with Lloyd’s weakening stamina, sent him crashing onto the clay shingles, face-first. Before he could push himself up, the massive handle of Ras’s oversized hammer slammed onto his back, pinning him to the roof.

Ras towered over him like a walking avalanche, his tusks gleaming under the violet lightning. Sparks crackled between his massive fingers.

“Pathetic,” Ras growled, voice rumbling like a storm about to break. “You fight like weaklings.”

Arin let go of the pillar like it was burning him and straightened, offense flashing across his face. “Okay, rude. Like—totally unnecessary commentary, actually—”

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence before Ras lunged at him with terrifying speed.

Lloyd surged forward with a burst of emerald energy, blocking the strike at the last second. The impact sent an explosive shockwave across the roof, strong enough that Arin had to plant his feet or be launched straight into Mysterium.

Ras leaned close, eyes gleaming with cruel amusement.

“You grow weaker every day…”

His voice dropped into something quiet, poisonous, meant for Lloyd alone.

“…Little half-breed.”

Something cold and ancient twisted deep in Lloyd’s gut.

He shoved Ras back with more force than he realized, scrambling to his feet, lungs burning, hands shaking. “How the fuck do you know about that?” he hissed, voice sharp as a blade. His fists clenched so tight the knuckles went bone-white.

Arin, oblivious to what Ras had just whispered, darted to Lloyd’s side. “Okay, new plan: we run. Like right now. Full sprint. Dramatic ninja exit. Thoughts?”

“No running,” Lloyd muttered, jaw clenched. “He’ll just follow us.”

Arin groaned. “Yeah, that’s… exactly what I was afraid you’d say.”

Ras slammed his hammer down with enough force to split the entire rooftop in half. Tiles exploded. Beams splintered. Arin yelped as the ground gave way under him, but Lloyd grabbed his arm, hauling him back just in time.

Ras rose from the settling dust like a nightmare resurrected.

“Hybrids like you should not exist,” he snarled, electricity crawling up his arms. “And yet your uncle dared to defy fate itself.”

Lloyd froze.

Arin blinked.

“…what?”

Ras’s eyes glowed with malicious glee.

“What’s wrong, Oni?” he taunted, pointing his hammer like a blade. “Too afraid to tell your dear student the truth?”

He spat the word like poison.

“Too afraid to admit why your pathetic excuse of a master is responsible for the merge?”

Lloyd’s blood ran cold.

Arin whipped around. “UH—WHAT?!”

But Ras didn’t stop.

“To save the boy who was never meant to live past eighteen.” His voice dripped with dark satisfaction. “Your master, your dear uncle, could not bear the truth. Could not accept that his greatest achievement, the Green Ninja, was destined to die before adulthood.”

Time stopped.

Even the wind held its breath.

Lloyd couldn’t breathe.

Arin’s voice was a whisper. “…Lloyd?”

Ras stepped forward, lightning cracking from his skin.

“Your uncle refused to let fate take you, so he broke the realms,” he barked. “He caused the merge in a desperate attempt to keep you alive.”

A howl of wind tore between them.

Lloyd stumbled back, heart pounding violently against his ribs.

Arin’s voice trembled.

“Lloyd… is that true?”

Lloyd didn’t answer.

Couldn’t answer.

His vision blurred at the edges. His chest tightened painfully, like something inside him was twisting and tearing all at once—

And then he saw it.

A faint violet glow reflecting off Arin’s eyes.

No.

Not now.

Not in front of Arin.

Arin grabbed his shoulder. “Lloyd? Lloyd, hey, what’s happening—?”

Ras watched with cruel delight.

“Yes. Show him. Show the boy what you’ve been hiding.”

‘Hah. Pathetic. The little mortal can’t handle the truth.’

‘Weak. Just like your father.’

“Shut UP,” Lloyd snapped, the words ripping out harsher than he meant. “You don’t know anything.”

“On the contrary,” Ras hissed, “I know exactly what you are.”

He spread his arms wide as plumes of smoke curled behind him.

“The child of two immortal races… who cannot survive being both.”

Arin’s face went pale.

“Lloyd…” His voice cracked. “This… this isn’t true, right?”

Lloyd swallowed, throat dry.

But the trembling in his hands betrayed him.

He didn’t answer.

Because he couldn’t.

Ras didn’t even try to hide the satisfaction curling across his face as Lloyd swayed on his feet. The purple haze bleeding off Lloyd’s skin pulsed in uneven, sickly waves. His hands shook. His breathing hitched. Something far older than him was waking beneath his skin.

Arin backed up a step, eyes wide.

“Lloyd…? Hey—hey, buddy, what’s happening to you—?”

Lloyd didn’t answer.

Because Lloyd wasn’t there.

The wind stopped. The sky dimmed, like even the clouds knew to be afraid. Lloyd’s head snapped up, and his eyes—

His eyes weren’t green anymore.

A vibrant, luminous purple swallowed his irises whole.

The rooftop quivered beneath them.

A shadow rolled off Lloyd’s shoulders like living smoke, thick and heavy, carrying an ancient vibration Arin felt deep in his teeth. When Lloyd spoke, his voice layered—one his normal tone, one deeper, older, like something was speaking through him.

“Stay back.”

Arin stumbled.

“Lloyd—?!”

Then it hit.

Lloyd’s skin lit into metallic gold, green glowing beneath like cracks in shattered porcelain. Horns tore through his forehead. His aura erupted in a violent shockwave that ripped tiles from the roof and sent Arin tumbling back.

Ras stopped dead.

“Impossible,” he breathed. “You should not be able to—”

Lloyd looked up at him.

Not as Lloyd.

As an Oni.

A full one.

And very, very angry.

The air thrummed with power. The whole roof vibrated. Lloyd’s voice rolled like thunder breaking through stone.

“You talk too much.”

Ras took one look at him—

—at the shadows curling around Lloyd like they worshipped him, at the spiraling sky overhead—

—and instantly decided he wanted no part of this.

“Another time,” he snapped, backing up, gripping his hammer like a lifeline. “When you are not… this.”

He vanished in a crack of lightning, retreating so fast Arin barely caught the movement.

Silence swallowed the rooftop.

The shadows around Lloyd crackled, flickered, then sucked back into his body like smoke being vacuumed. His horns shattered into dust. His eyes flickered—

Green. Purple. Green. Purple.

Then blank.

He collapsed.

“Lloyd!” Arin lunged and caught him. His teacher hung limp and cold against him, way too light for someone who fought like a walking earthquake on the daily.

“Hey—hey, Lloyd, come on, open your eyes,” Arin begged, tapping his cheek. “This isn’t funny, Lloyd—Lloyd—!”

Nothing.

Arin pressed his fingers to his neck.

There. A pulse.

Weak. Fast. Wrong.

Okay. Okay. Don’t panic. DO NOT panic. Definitely do not think about the full Oni transformation that just happened in front of your face.

Arin shifted Lloyd into his arms, bridal-style.

“Dude,” he muttered shakily, “you are, like… suspiciously light for someone who eats as much as you do. What is going on with you?”

He ran toward the dupe-monastery portal gate.

“Take me to the monastery!” he shouted.

It activated instantly.

Arin barreled through—

—and immediately yelled:

“Kai?! Nya?! Zane?! Somebody HELP—!”

In seconds, the ninja came crashing in. Jay sliding in on mismatched socks, Nya’s hair half-braided, Kai already shouting, “What happened? What happened??”

Arin lifted Lloyd an inch.

Everyone froze.

“Oh my god…” Nya whispered.

Zane was at Arin’s side in an instant. “Bring him to his room,” he said in that too-calm-but-not-really calm voice.

They rushed down the hall. Arin laid Lloyd onto the unmade bed, his chest barely rising.

A beat of silence.

Then—

Then the questions exploded.

“Why is he unconscious?!” Kai demanded. “What were you two even doing?!”

“His eyes,” Nya whispered, voice cracking, “they were… something’s wrong with his eyes—”

Zane scanned Lloyd, tension sharp on his face. “His vitals are unstable. His energy levels are… fluctuating significantly.”

“You THINK?” Jay barked. “He looks like he got hit by a bus! A big one!”

Before Arin could speak:

“Lloyd!”

Cole burst in with Sora and Wyldfyre, all three looking like they’d sprinted the whole way there.

“Is he okay?!” Cole demanded.

Arin inhaled.

He had to tell them.

“Listen,” he said. “There’s something Ras said.”

Everyone turned to him.

Arin’s stomach twisted.

“He… he said that Lloyd wasn’t supposed to live past eighteen.”

Jay blinked.

“…What?”

“And, he said Master Wu started the Merge to save him.”

Silence.

The kind that hits like a punch.

“What are you talking about?” Nya whispered.

Wyldfyre threw her hands into the air.

“Oh, come ON! We’re listening to that good-for-nothing overgrown ferret?!”

Cole squeezed her shoulder. “Wyldfyre—”

“No,” Kai said sharply. “No. Wu would never—”

“Apparently he did,” Arin mumbled. “Ras said Lloyd was dying before the Merge. That something was wrong with him.”

Zane’s expression darkened. “I was unaware of any fatal condition. However… his behavior in the days before his birthday was irregular.”

“Yeah,” Cole said. “Don’t you remember when he ran out during breakfast? I heard him coughing in the bathroom. Really bad.”

“Same!” Jay yelled. “Dude sounded like he was dying. I couldn’t sleep for a week.”

“One night I found him on the roof,” Nya added. “He looked pale. And exhausted.”

“Oh, and the bathroom sink is purple now,” Kai said.

Everyone murmured agreement.

Sora folded her arms. “Okay—so something’s definitely going on here. But Wyldfyre’s right. For all we know Ras is lying. I mean, there’s no way Lloyd’s dying. Right?”

Silence.

“…Right?”

Arin swallowed.

“Guys… something else happened too.”

“Yes?” Zane asked.

“Is it normal for him to, I dunno—”

Arin waved at Lloyd’s unconscious form.

“—turn into an Oni-demon thing?”

Every ninja’s head whipped toward him.

“…He did what?!” Kai hissed.

“I don’t know!” Arin squeaked. “He was wobbling, I thought he was gonna pass out, and then he told me to stay back and turned gold! With horns! And shadows! And his eyes went purple!”

“Uh—guys?” Sora asked. “What’s an Oni?”

Wyldfyre scoffed. “Psh—Oni baloney! Forget that, are we ignoring the fact that Greenie over here is DYING?!”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jay interjected. “Back up. You’re telling me he unlocked his Oni form?!”

“Oh my gosh,” Arin groaned. “Yes, Jay, I literally just said that—”

“GUYS!” Sora snapped.

Everyone stopped talking.

She pointed between her and Wyldfyre.

“Are any of you gonna explain what an Oni is? Or are we supposed to make an educated guess?”

Wyldfyre huffed. “I’ll have you know, I am VERY educated. Peak educated.”

Cole sighed, already done.

Zane spoke. “The Oni are a powerful demon race wielding destructive power. Lloyd is part Oni from his father, who possessed both Oni and Dragon blood.”

Sora blinked. “So you’re telling me Lloyd is a demon with destruction powers?!”

“Partially,” Zane corrected.

Wyldfyre gasped. “So he’s like… Neapolitan ice cream?”

Zane paused.

“…Essentially, yes.”

Nya pressed a trembling hand over her mouth, staring at Lloyd’s unconscious form with wide, horrified eyes.

“Oh my god…” she breathed. “He was actually going to die? The coughing? The weird behavior? All of it because he was dying?!”

Zane’s voice, usually even, came out soft but unbearably heavy.

“He must have kept this from us.”

Kai dragged both hands through his hair, pacing, jaw tight, eyes burning.

“Of course he did. Of course he did. That idiot—why didn’t he fucking tell us?” he snapped, voice cracking at the end.

“It’s Lloyd,” Nya said quietly, dropping her hand. “Of course he wouldn’t tell us. The real question is why didn’t Master Wu tell us?”

Cole let out a humorless laugh, sharp and bitter.

“Uh, are we talking about the same Master Wu? Because the Wu I know doesn’t tell his students anything until it’s way too late.”

Kai spun around, anger flashing across his face. “Now hold on—”

“It’s true, isn’t it,” Cole said, stepping forward, voice lowering into something harsher. “You can’t deny it because it’s true. Remember Morro? Aspheera? Come on, Kai, he started the Merge, for fuck’s sake.”

“Uh,” Jay said, glancing nervously between them, “guys…?”

“Cole, what the hell?!” Kai barked, volume rising with every word. “Master Wu is our teacher. He practically raised us all! Yeah, okay, he messed up, but that does not mean you get to shit on him, especially now that he’s gone!”

“Guys??” Jay tried again, more desperate this time.

Cole marched right up to Kai, until only a few inches separating them, both bristling.

“Well maybe if he’d told us a few more of his world-ending secrets, we could’ve actually helped! Like, I dunno, the fact that our little brother was dying right in front of us!” Cole snapped. “Then we could’ve done something!”

Kai stepped closer. “Now listen here, you son of a—”

“GUYS!!!”

Both Kai and Cole whipped their heads toward Jay.

“What?!” they shouted in unison.

Jay pointed between them wildly. “How exactly… did Ras know that Lloyd is partially Oni and Dragon? Or that he was dying? Or that Wu started the Merge?”

The anger evaporated from Kai and Cole’s faces instantly, drained away and replaced with something much worse.

Panic.

“…Shit,” Nya whispered. “Someone must’ve told him. It’s not widely known that Lloyd isn’t fully human.”

“It was known to citizens of Ninjago,” Zane said gently, “but limited. Only those who worked with us or remained in the city after Lord Garmadon had taken control.”

“Well, do you have any idea who could’ve told Ras?” Sora asked, voice quiet, eyes darting across each older ninja in turn.

“Yeah,” Wyldfyre said, lifting her hand and clenching it into a dramatic fist, “me and Mr. Fist would love to have a little conversation with them.”

“Unfortunately… no,” Zane sighed. “There is no obvious culprit.”

Wydfyre dropped her fist with a groan. “Aw, dang it.”

Kai pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a breath through his teeth. “Man, this is not how I thought today was gonna go.”

“Tell me about it,” Jay muttered, dragging a hand down his face.

Arin looked around at all of them. His team, his heroes, usually loud, fierce, unshakeable. Now?

Frightened, confused, angry.

Hurting.

He felt something twist painfully in his chest.

Slowly, he turned back toward Lloyd. Still, unmoving, and pale. Too pale.

“…I hope he’s okay,” Arin whispered, barely audible.

The room fell completely silent.

No one spoke.

No one disagreed.

And that scared Arin the most.

. . .

Lloyd’s vision blurred, edges dissolving into a haze of swirling shadows and flickering light. The last thing he remembered was the chaos on the rooftop. The thunderous crack of Ras’ hammer, the shockwave of his own power, and then nothing. Just nothing, until he felt the weight of air bend around him, pliant and strange, and the pull of a voice, soft but insistent, tugging at the corners of his consciousness.

‘Wake up.’

It wasn’t a voice he recognized. Not exactly. It felt like… the wind inside his skull, brushing along the hollowed-out parts of his mind, pressing insistently. Then, somewhere deeper, a second voice murmured, thick and low, amused, curling around the edges of the first.

‘You think you can hide, half-breed?’ it said. ‘You think you can resist?’

The sound was liquid and dark. It made his teeth ache and his chest tighten, though it didn’t belong to anyone in the waking world.

“Who—?” Lloyd whispered, but the words came out as a breathless hiss. There was no reply. Only movement in the shadows, like black smoke curling into shapes.

And then he saw him.

A small figure, no taller than his knees, dressed head to toe in black, boots too big for little feet, hair messy, eyes wide and curious, an impossibly young Lloyd. Standing there, perfectly still, staring at him.

“L-Lloyd?” the small figure said, voice high and wavering. “Is… is that you?”

Lloyd blinked. His heart slammed. His hands twitched. “I… I think so,” he managed.

Little Lloyd’s eyes gleamed with admiration and mischief. “Wow! You’re tall, you’re strong. You’re… amazing!”

“You… think so?” Lloyd asked, voice cracking.

The child nodded eagerly. “Yeah! I want to be like you when I grow up! I want to—” He paused, then whispered with the kind of excitement only a child could have, “…I want to be like Dad. I want to be powerful. I want everyone to fear me! I want to rule everything!”

Lloyd froze. His chest twisted painfully, heart thudding. “You—you mean like… Garmadon?”

Little Lloyd nodded, eyes shining. “Yeah! Exactly like him! He's amazing! He’s strong, he’s smart, he’s… scary! I want to be like him. I want to—” His voice faltered, lower now. “…I want to be powerful like him.”

The deep voice snickered low in Lloyd’s mind, teeth scraping air.

‘Ha. Exactly like him, you say?’ it hissed, a cruel, velvety rasp. ‘You want to be like the man who abandoned you? Who hurt people for his own amusement? You idolize weakness and cruelty, half-breed. You are doomed to fail.’

Lloyd flinched. His stomach knotted. “Shut up,” he muttered under his breath. “You… you don’t know anything.”

But the words of the voice lingered like ash in the air. They were always there, whispering, condescending, reminding him of a lineage he had never wanted to claim.

‘You’re just like him. Weak. Afraid. Trying to be good when good will never save you,’ the voice hissed. ‘The little hybrid… doomed.’

And then, the second voice, deep and warm, coiled around the first, soft as sunlight, strong as stone.

‘Little one,’ it said. ‘Do not listen to such foolishness. You are not doomed. You are not your father. Listen to me, focus. You are stronger than you know.’

“I… I just…” Lloyd stammered, voice cracking, “I never wanted to be… like him.”

Little Lloyd blinked, absorbing the words, his small fists curling in determination. “But… I look up to him! I want to be exactly like him! I want… I want to have the power he had!”

“No, you don’t have to be him,” Lloyd whispered, voice shaking. “You can admire someone without becoming them. You can learn from them, take what you need, and leave the rest behind.”

The deep voice laughed, a dark sound that rolled like thunder in Lloyd’s chest.

‘Learn? Leave behind?’ it rasped. ‘Do you really think you can escape what you are? You are part monster. Half Oni, half Dragon… doomed before your first breath. You cannot hide it. You cannot fight it. And you will never be human.’

The shadows coiled around him, twisting, writhing like living smoke. Lloyd’s stomach churned. Not again, he thought. Not where anyone can see. Not now.

“I can control it,” he whispered, barely audible. “I am still me. I am not him. I am not… Garmadon. I—”

‘Pathetic,’ the voice cut in, cutting off his thoughts. ‘Trying to be good when good will never save you. Just like him. Just like your father.’

“Shut up,” Lloyd barked, voice stronger now, rising above the hiss of shadows and wind. “I am not like him. I am not like my father.”

‘Yes, little one. You are brave. You have survived, even when the world expected you to fail. You are stronger than you know.’

Little Lloyd’s eyes glimmered, reflecting a faint light, hesitant but bright. “Do I… Did I become like him?” he whispered, voice trembling. “Am I going to be scary like him?”

Lloyd knelt in the dream, lowering himself to meet the gaze of his younger self. His chest ached with the weight of both memory and fear. “I… I don’t know.”

The Oni hissed again, low, malicious, and almost impatient.

‘Pitiful. You are weak. You are doomed. You carry your blood, your curse, your failure inside you. Always you.’

“Yes,” Lloyd whispered, voice trembling but firm, “I carry it. But I choose what to do with it. I choose how to use it. I will survive. I will live. I will be me, not my father.”

The shadows thrashed, curling in furious waves, but they did not break him. The light of the wispy voice shone through, tendrils of warmth wrapping around him, pressing reassurance into the edges of the dream.

‘You see?’ the comforting voice murmured, low and tender. ‘You have always had this strength. You are still you. Remember that, little one. Remember who you are.’

Little Lloyd looked at him, black-clad and earnest, and nodded, understanding in a way only a child could. “I want to be strong. I was wrong. I want to be like you, not dad. I want to be… good.”

“Yeah,” Lloyd said, voice thick, almost breaking. “You already are. You always have been.”

The thick, deep voice hissed one last time, coiled like smoke around a dying fire, fading slowly:

‘We are always here… always inside… always waiting…’

And the second, airy, comforting voice lingered, soft and unwavering:

‘Little one, wake. Time to live. Time to fight.’

The mist dissolved. The shadows collapsed into themselves. The scruffy child faded, leaving only the echo of wide, hopeful eyes behind.

Lloyd was himself.

He was alive.

And, for the first time in what felt like forever, he didn’t feel alone.

. . .

The first thing Lloyd registered was the sensation of rough, calloused fingers, hands shaped by fire, combat, and years of being the de-facto big brother, slowly combing through his hair.

It was… nice.

So nice, actually, that for a moment his brain just… floated, drifting in that soft, soothing motion like it was a warm tide.

Wait, no.

Focus, Lloyd.

He was supposed to be doing something… waking up? Right. Right, that sounded familiar. That was probably important.

…Maybe.

His senses crawled back in piece by piece, sluggish and delayed, like someone rebooting an ancient computer. The air tasted faintly of incense. His pillow smelled like cedar. The sunlight was muted, the late afternoon light spilling through thin curtains that fluttered with each gentle breeze.

He blinked, slow, heavy, and his eyelashes stuck together from dried tears he didn’t remember shedding.

Then he heard voices. Quiet ones. Concerned ones. Soft enough that they either thought he was still asleep… or they were scared of waking him up.

“…he’s stirring.”

“Lloyd?”

“Open your eyes, Greenie.”

His muscles felt like someone had poured molten lead into them. Breathing scraped like sandpaper. His heart fluttered too fast, too fragile, an echo of whatever storm had torn him apart from the inside only hours before.

Lloyd forced his eyes open.

And was immediately greeted by a sea of red.

Kai.

Kai’s knee was pressed into the mattress beside him, one hand resting on his forehead, the other carding slowly through Lloyd’s hair like he was afraid to stop.

“Hey, buddy,” Kai whispered, voice gentler than Lloyd had heard in a long time. “How ya feeling?”

Lloyd opened his mouth, and winced. His throat was raw, torn up from coughing and choking and screaming. “…Yeah… I’m… I’m okay.”

Kai gave him a look so unimpressed it could’ve leveled a city block.

“Nope. Try again.” He smirked, brushing a stray strand of blond hair from Lloyd’s face.

Lloyd blinked blearily, then sighed.

“…I feel like shit.”

Kai gasped dramatically, hand flying to his chest. “Wow. First of all—language. Second, that might be the most honest thing you’ve told me in months.”

Lloyd winced. Yeah. He deserved that. And more.

“Kai…” Lloyd lifted a trembling hand and grabbed Kai’s, the one not currently playing with his hair. His fingers felt too small around Kai’s palm, too cold, too weak.

“I’m sorry.” His breath hitched. “I was just… scared. I didn’t know what was happening to me and,” a choked sound escaped him, “I’m so sorry, I—”

Kai froze.

Then immediately panicked, hands flying everywhere like he was trying to hug Lloyd and wipe his tears and calm him down all at once.

“No—hey, hey, Lloyd, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Kai murmured, gently pulling him upright and wrapping both arms around him. Lloyd sagged into him, exhausted, head pressed to Kai’s shoulder. “It’s gonna be okay. I’ve got you. You’re alright.”

Kai pulled back after a moment and cupped Lloyd’s face, wiping his tears with his thumbs.

“Look at me, kid. No one is mad at you, okay? We’re just… worried. So goddamn worried. Hell, I totally thought that Zane was gonna short-circuit back there.”

Lloyd actually snorted at that.

But he swallowed hard and looked up, eyes shining with something determined and scared all at once.

“Kai… I have to tell you the truth. All of you.”

Kai ruffled his hair lovingly. “I’d go get them, except they’ve been here the whole time.”

“What…?” Lloyd twisted to the side—

—and nearly had a stroke.

Seven sets of eyes stared back at him.

“Oh my god,” Lloyd groaned, dragging a hand over his face. “Have you guys been standing there the whole time?”

“Yup,” Nya deadpanned.

“Sorry, but we didn’t wanna interrupt Mr. Softy over here,” Cole said, pointing at Kai. Jay snorted behind him.

Kai glared. “Congratulations, Cole, you’ve ruined the moment. Want an award?”

“C’mon, Kai,” Jay chirped, “we all know Lloyd’s your favorite.”

“Shut up.”

“See?! He didn’t even try to deny it—!”

“Guys,” Nya groaned, massaging her temples, “literally any other time but now.”

“Yeah,” Wyldfyre added loudly, “everybody shut up and let Lloyd talk.”

They crowded around his bed, forming an uneven ring of tired, haunted faces. Faces that hadn’t slept.

Jay’s hair was sticking out in odd angles. Nya had dark circles. Sora kept wringing her hands. Wildfyre’s fists glowed faintly with heat. Cole’s jaw was clenched too tight. Even Zane, calm and composed Zane, had tension in his posture that shouldn’t have been possible for a nindroid.

Lloyd swallowed.

Okay. He could do this.

He owed them this.

“Okay,” he said quietly. “I’m just gonna say it. I’m supposed to be dead right now.”

The room was silent.

“Uh… guys?” Lloyd tried weakly. “Did you hear me? I said—”

“Oh, yeah, we already know about that,” Jay cut in casually. “And that Master Wu started the Merge to save you. Aaaand that you unlocked your Oni form.”

Lloyd stared at him.

“Wha…you—how—”

“I told them,” Arin said from the foot of the bed.

The air in Lloyd’s room felt thick enough to choke on.

“Lloyd, please, you have to tell us when things are wrong,” Nya pleaded softly. “No more secrets, okay?”

No more secrets, huh?

He swallowed hard.

…Alright then.

“Okay, well, if we’re doing ‘no more secrets,’ then there’s some things you guys should prooobably know…” Lloyd said, rubbing the back of his neck with a wince.

Sora immediately leaned in, elbows on her knees like she was about to watch a soap opera. “Okay. We’re listening.”

“Um, well…” Lloyd’s gaze flicked around the room, meeting eight sets of eyes that ranged from hopeful to terrified. “As you all know, or at least, have heard, for the past few days, maybe weeks… I don’t know… I’ve been coughing. A lot.”

Jay tilted his head. “Yeah, you’ve been hacking like a haunted vacuum cleaner—”

“And,” Lloyd continued, ignoring Jay’s comment, “I… may or may not have been coughing up… blood.”

The room froze.

Jay’s jaw fell open.

Nya’s hand flew to her mouth.

Wyldfyre looked like someone had just smacked her with a frying pan.

“You… what?” Kai breathed, immediately placing a firm, steady hand on Lloyd’s shoulder like the kid might evaporate.

“Lloyd,” Zane said carefully, worry dripping from every syllable, “that is a severe medical concern—”

“Yeah, no shit. He was dying!” Cole blurted.

His voice boomed off the walls, and Lloyd flinched like it physically hurt.

“Okay, yes, thank you, Captain Obvious,” Lloyd muttered, “but can we not yell about that part?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Nya asked, her voice shaking in a way Lloyd had never heard before. “Lloyd, coughing up blood isn’t normal. You can’t just walk around like that.”

Lloyd stared down at his hands, twisting the sheets between his fingers. “I didn’t… I didn’t want to freak you guys out.”

“Too late!” Jay screeched, voice cracking on the last syllable like he was seventeen again.

Kai glared at him. “Jay.”

“What?! I’m sorry, but freaking out is literally the only reasonable reaction!”

Zane stepped closer, hands clasped behind his back, expression calm but deeply concerned.

“Lloyd,” he said, “just to confirm, you have been coughing up blood since approximately one to two weeks before your eighteenth birthday?”

Lloyd hesitated, then nodded.

“…Yeah.”

The reaction was instantaneous.

“Oh my god, he’s been dying for a year?!” Wyldfyre shrieked, hands in her hair.

“It wasn’t a year!” Lloyd protested weakly.

Jay threw his arms up. “So you just… didn’t notice a whole entire year passing?!”

Lloyd dragged his hands over his face. “Okay, okay, it wasn’t—look, time is weird, my mind was kinda preoccupied—”

Arin’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade.

“Lloyd… is that why you passed out? The blood?”

Lloyd nodded slowly. “That’s… part of it.”

“Part of it?” Wyldfyre repeated, eyes bulging. “There’s more?!”

He hesitated, then exhaled.

“…You know how Arin told you all that I unlocked my Oni form?”

Everyone nodded.

“Yeah. Um.” Lloyd picked anxiously at the hem of his blanket. “That… didn’t happen today. I didn’t just unlock it in the fight with Ras.”

“Ohhhh boy,” Cole muttered under his breath.

Nya’s brows creased. “Wait. Then when—?”

“When me and my father fought the Overlord.”

Zane blinked slowly, processing. “…But Lloyd, that is inconsistent with your prior explanation. You told us that Lord Garmadon used his Oni powers in that battle.”

“I lied.”

The impact hit the room like a lightning strike.

Confusion, shock, betrayal.

All painted across eight different faces in real-time

“…Lloyd,” Kai whispered, voice cracking. “Why would you lie about something like that?”

Lloyd stared down at his hands like they might hold an answer. His knuckles were white.

“I’m sorry, what are we talking about?” Sora asked, looking desperately between everyone. Wyldfyre grunted in agreement.

Kai, Cole, and Nya groaned in exhausted unison, while Jay turned to Arin with a look that said, please translate before they break something.

Arin cleared his throat. “Okay, long story short, the Overlord is like, a super evil, big scary darkness guy, and Lloyd and his dad tried to fight him, but it didn’t go well. Then the four of them—” he gestured to the original ninja “—merged their Golden Weapons together and made this giant golden dragon. Mega cool. Anyway, Lloyd and the dragon defeated the Overlord.”

Sora’s eyes widened. “Wait wait wait—you fought alongside a giant golden dragon?!”

Jay waved his hands frantically. “That’s not the important part right now!”

Cole rubbed his face with both hands. “All this time… and you never told us.”

“How did he even manage to hide that for this long?!” Kai demanded.

Lloyd shrank a little, pulling the blanket up to his chest.

“Oh—there’s also… another thing…” Lloyd said sheepishly, tugging at his sleeve.

A collective groan rolled around the room.

“Yes?” Zane asked cautiously.

Lloyd cleared his throat.

“Um… I’ve kinda sorta been hearing these weird voices in my head.”

Silence.

Actual silence. Like the air got sucked out of the room and someone hit a cosmic mute button.

“Voices?” Sora repeated, voice small and trembling. “Like… voices voices? In your head?”

Lloyd winced, shoulders curling inward. “Yeah. But not like—super crazy. Just… I don’t know. They’re usually quiet. And sometimes they get loud. And sometimes they say my name, or warn me about stuff, or—” He cut himself off, pressing the heel of his palm into his forehead. “I didn’t want to freak anyone out.”

Jay blinked rapidly, hands flailing. “Oh good! Oh great! He’s dying and being haunted! Wonderful! Amazing! This is fine. I’m fine. Everything’s—“

“Jay, shut up,” Kai snapped, though his voice shook. He squeezed Lloyd’s shoulder, gentler this time, like he was making sure Lloyd hadn’t disappeared. “You’ve been hearing them for how long?”

“A few weeks,” Lloyd admitted, voice barely above a whisper. “They’ve been getting worse recently.”

Zane stepped closer, expression tightening with a clinical worry that somehow made it worse. “Lloyd, auditory hallucinations can be a symptom of psychological strain, magical interference, possession—”

“Possession!?” Jay screeched. “Dude, that’s already happened once—“

“Jay.” Cole grabbed him by the sleeve and yanked him backward like a misbehaving cat being removed from a countertop. “Not. Helping.”

Arin leaned in, eyes wide and burning. “What do they sound like?”

Lloyd hesitated—then sighed.

“…There’s two different ones,” he said finally. “One sounds like,” He swallowed hard. “Like something dark. Something wrong. When it talks it feels like… I don’t know. Like my spine’s melting.” He shrugged weakly. “That’s the one that’s always insulting me.”

“And the other one sounds like… the complete opposite.” Lloyd added softly. “It feels like a gentle breeze passing by, if that makes sense. Calmer. Softer. It tries to help.”

Everyone stared at him with a new, freshly miserable flavor of terror.

“Two…?” Nya echoed, like the word physically hurt.

“That’s worse,” Jay whispered. “That’s definitely worse. Two voices means double the chances of being possessed—”

“Jay,” Cole hissed, tightening his grip on Jay’s sleeve. “For fuck’s sake, if you don’t chill—”

“No, he’s right,” Arin muttered, shrinking in on himself. “It’s definitely worse.”

Sora stepped forward, meeting Lloyd's sharp green eyes. “What do they say?”

Lloyd pointed vaguely upward. “The dark one, it never shuts up about how I’m a ‘pathetic half-breed, just like my father,’ blah, blah, blah. Keeps telling me I’m weak, or that I should just give up.” He rolled his eyes, though it didn’t hide how exhausted he looked. “Really inspirational stuff.”

“That’s not inspirational!” Wyldfyre yelped.

“I was being sarcastic,” Lloyd deadpanned.

Kai’s jaw clenched so hard it looked painful. “If I ever meet this voice, I’m punching it.”

“Pretty sure it doesn’t have a face,” Lloyd mumbled with a tiny, weak smile.

“I’ll find one.”

“Anyway,” Lloyd continued quickly, “the other voice, the calm one, it… helps. It tells me to breathe, to slow down, to ignore the other one. It feels… familiar somehow, but I can’t place it.”

Zane’s eyes flickered, whirring softly as calculations ran behind them. “A duality of influence. One malicious, one protective. Lloyd, this may indicate a supernatural imbalance, or a connection to—”

“Zane,” Nya said gently, “English.

Zane paused. “Lloyd is being pulled in two different mystical directions.”

“Okay, see,” Jay squeaked, “you don’t need to translate that to know it’s absolutely horrifying—”

“But they’re not just talking anymore,” Lloyd blurted suddenly.

Everything stopped.

Arin’s voice lowered to a shaky whisper. “What do you mean ‘not just talking’?”

Lloyd looked down—then up at the team. His eyes glowed faintly, sickly gold. He didn’t even notice.

“They’re arguing.”

Wyldfyre made a curious grunt.

“Arguing about what?” Sora asked, inching closer even though she looked like she might faint.

Lloyd exhaled shakily, heart pounding against his ribs.

“About who gets to control me.”

Cole threw his hands in the air. “Okay. Yeah. Totally fine. Nothing to worry about. Just two mysterious entities fighting over his brain like it’s on sale.”

“…What are we supposed to do about this?” Nya asked helplessly.

“Is there like—someone we can go to?” Arin asked. “A doctor? A shaman? A dragon? Hell… another Oni?”

The room went deathly still.

Kai turned slowly toward Lloyd, raising an eyebrow. “…Another Oni, huh?”

“No.” Lloyd said immediately, eyes widening. “There’s absolutely no way—”

“Lloyd,” Nya pressed, voice firm despite the tremor, “he’s the only one we know. Unless you’ve met another Oni and forgot to mention it?”

“What makes you think he’d even want to help us?!” Lloyd snapped, frustration bleeding into fear. “He’s gone! And even if he wasn’t, he—”

“Uh… guys?” Sora said sheepishly, “who is it exactly that we’re talking about?”

Cole sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Lloyd’s dad, Lord Garmadon, is an Oni. So yes. He’s the only logical source of help.”

“Great!” Wyldfyre barked. “Then we just find your old man and fix all this!”

“I wish it were that easy,” Lloyd said, voice dropping flat and bitter. “But one, he’s completely disappeared since the Merge. And two, I’m like ninety-nine percent sure he wants nothing to do with us anymore.”

“Lloyd,” Jay said gently, “he’s literally helped us before—”

“Yeah, well that’s because Master Wu was there to convince him!” Lloyd shouted, voice cracking on the last word.

The room flinched.

“What other option do we have?” Nya asked pleadingly.

“Realistically,” Zane added, “if we knew any other Oni, which we do not, Lord Garmadon would still be the easiest to locate and persuade into helping us.”

“Yes, thank you, Zane,” Lloyd muttered. “Very comforting.”

“So,” Kai said, folding his arms, “what’ll it be, Greenie?”

Lloyd shut his eyes, defeated.

“…Fine.”

His voice was barely a breath.

“Great!” Arin chirped, far too cheerfully for their current situation. “Just one problem, how exactly are we supposed to find him? Like, does anyone have his number? A mailing address? A—”

He saw everyone staring at Lloyd and stopped mid-ramble.

Because Lloyd had gone very, very still.

‘Finally.’

The dark voice slithered through his skull, smooth and cold and venom-thick.

‘Go north, foolish child. Follow the path of ruin. He awaits…’

Lloyd’s breath hitched.

“…Lloyd?” Kai said cautiously.

‘You must not hesitate,’ murmured the second voice, soft, warm, gentle, brushing against his mind like a hand steadying his shoulder.

‘You know the way. Trust what you feel.’

“Uh—Lloyd?” Jay repeated, already sounding like he was two seconds from panicking.

‘Time is running out.’

The dark voice pressed harder, curling like smoke behind his eyes.

“LLOYD!” Cole shouted.

Lloyd jolted like someone plugged him into a wall outlet. His vision snapped back into focus.

“Huh? Did you say something?” he blinked, looking around like he’d just come out of a trance.

Everyone stared at him.

Jay and Nya shared a look so worried it could’ve been framed and hung in a doctor’s office.

Sora and Arin exchanged a full-body shiver of what the actual hell.

Wyldfyre’s eyes widened with alarm.

Zane stepped forward, scanning Lloyd’s vitals again. “His energy levels are increasing once more. Rapidly.”

Kai closed his eyes, exhaled slowly, and said exactly what everyone was thinking:

“Okay, that’s definitely not concerning on a number of levels.”

Lloyd rubbed the back of his neck. “Guys, I’m fine. I just—tranced out for a second.”

“You didn’t ‘trance out,’” Nya said, voice tight. “Your pupils dilated, you stopped breathing for like three seconds, and Kai was about to jump you to do CPR.”

“I wasn’t—!” Kai started.

Jay raised a hand. “He was.”

“Jay!”

“What?! Sorry for telling the truth! CPR was absolutely about to happen!”

Cole muttered, “Man, we’re falling apart…”

“We are not falling apart,” Sora said, though the wobble in her voice suggested she wasn’t fully convinced.

Arin spoke up. “Lloyd. Did the voices say something? Is that what happened?”

Lloyd hesitated.

He could lie. He could brush it off. He could pretend he didn’t just go full prophetic-vision mode in front of them.

But “no more secrets,” Nya had said.

And, honestly? He was tired. Tired of hiding. Tired of carrying everything alone. Tired of pretending he was invincible when he felt like glass.

“…Yeah,” Lloyd admitted quietly. “They told me something.”

The team leaned in—anxious, scared, desperate for answers.

“What did they say?” Nya asked softly.

Lloyd swallowed.

“A direction,” he said. “North.”

Sora squinted. “…North where?”

“I don’t know,” Lloyd admitted. “But the voices, both of them, they want me to go that way. One of them said Garmadon is waiting there.”

Wyldfyre threw her arms up. “Okay. Well. That’s creepy but also weirdly convenient.”

Jay pointed at Lloyd dramatically. “Hold on, hold on—so now the creepy voices have a GPS installed?! Why didn’t you mention that earlier?!”

“Because it just happened,” Lloyd muttered.

“Of course it did…”

Zane tapped his chin thoughtfully. “If both voices directed you north, that suggests a convergence of intention. Even if they oppose each other, they are leading you toward the same point.”

“That doesn’t exactly make me feel better, Zane,” Kai snapped.

“I am not attempting to comfort you.”

“You’re doing a great job, buddy,” Cole said sarcastically.

Zane blinked. “Thank you.”

Lloyd sighed deeply, shoulders slumping. “Look, I don’t know what’s out there, or why they want us to go, or how they even know where Garmadon is. But… it feels important.”

“What kind of important?” Sora asked.

“The bad kind? The good kind? The morally grey ‘maybe you’ll die but maybe you’ll get character development’ kind?” Jay offered.

Lloyd shot him an exhausted glare. “Yes.”

Jay blinked. “Oh. All of them. Cool cool cool.”

Kai crossed his arms. “If it leads to your dad, we have to try. Whether you like the guy or not, he’s the only Oni we’ve got.”

Lloyd grimaced at that.

Nya stepped closer, her expression softer than the rest. “Lloyd, we’re not dragging you there. You make the call.”

The room fell silent.

Not the panicked, heavy silence from before.

A steady one. Waiting. Trusting.

Lloyd looked at all of them, their worry, their loyalty, their complete inability to function as normal people, and he felt something unclench inside him.

He didn’t have to do this alone.

“…Okay,” he whispered. “We go north.”

Arin pumped a fist. “YES! Wait, uh—do we have a plan for when we get there?”

“No,” Kai said.

“Absolutely not,” Jay added.

“Plans are for people who aren’t in constant crisis,” Cole muttered.

Zane nodded. “Statistically accurate.”

Wyldfyre grinned, sparks flaring. “Adventure!”

Lloyd groaned. “This is a terrible idea.”

“But it’s our terrible idea,” Nya said, squeezing his shoulder gently.

He managed a small, crooked smile.

Then suddenly—

His head throbbed.

A pulse. A shockwave. A flash of gold behind his eyes.

The voices slammed into him again, overlapping, clashing:

‘Hurry. Before the darkness spreads.’
‘Hurry. Before he’s lost forever.’

Lloyd staggered, clutching his temple.

Kai caught him instantly. “Lloyd?!”

“I’m fine,” he forced out. “I— I think they’re… pushing me. Urging me to move. Soon.”

“How soon?” Jay asked nervously.

Lloyd opened his eyes.

They glowed.

Gold like a dying star.

“…Tonight.”

The team collectively exploded.

“TONIGHT?!”

“We’re not prepared—”

“We don’t even know what we’re walking into—”

“Can we at LEAST pack snacks?!”

“SORA THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR SNACKS—“

“YES IT IS. WE’LL GET HUNGRY—”

“EVERYONE SHUT UP!”

Kai’s shout silenced the room.

He looked around at them, frazzled, terrified, chaotic, and then down at his little brother, whose eyes still gleamed faintly with power he couldn’t control.

“We leave,” Kai said firmly. “At nightfall.”

Nya nodded. “I’ll gather weapons.”

“I will prepare medical supplies,” Zane added.

“I’m packing energy drinks,” Jay said.

“No, you’re not,” Cole said.

“You can’t stop me.”

“I absolutely can.”

Arin bounced on his heels. “Do we need ropes? Torches? Blankets? A map? A compass? Emotional support plushies?”

Wyldfyre grinned. “Bring ALL of them!”

Lloyd just stared at them, his chaotic, ridiculous, unstoppable family, and felt something warm and painful rise in his chest.

Fear, hope, dread, relief.

Everything tangled together.

Kai ruffled his hair gently. “We’ve got you, Greenie.”

Lloyd breathed out slowly.

“…Yeah. Okay.”

He looked toward the window.

The sky was dimming, clouds rolling in like a curtain closing.

North.

Somewhere out there, across realms, across dangers, across whatever horrors lay there—

Garmadon waited.

And the voices wanted him to hurry.

“Get ready,” Lloyd said softly. “Tonight… we go.”

The team nodded, splitting off, preparing, muttering, panicking in ten different volumes at once.

Lloyd remained still, staring out the window.

The dark voice whispered:

‘He will not welcome you.’

The gentle voice countered:

‘He will help you.’

Lloyd closed his eyes.

“Please,” he whispered to no one. “Let this be the right choice.”

Thunder rolled through the sky, shaking the windows.

Lloyd didn’t flinch.

He just exhaled, steadying himself.

Whatever waited for them in the north…

…he could only hope they were ready for it.